Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-12-10
The Howling West.


your readers. l left McMinnville in
1880, and came to Missouri, where /
remained until last September, when
| started overland for Nebraska.
There were three families of us, max
ing quite jolly crowd. We came
through Western Missouri and
n. E. Kansas. Western Missouri and
Kansas are quite nice farming coun-
tries, though to my surprise | found
Kansas very broken and hilly. Most
of the farmers seemed to be prosper
Gus, although the drouth and chinch
bugs did considerable damage this
year.
We came through Topeka, the cap
ital of Kansas, and crossed the Pata-
watatamie reservation, 20 miles
north of Topeka, where / saw the
first Indians on their native soil, and
although semi-civilized, they still adj
here to their feathers and beads.
Eastern Kansas is very good fruit
country, and saw some as nice ap-
piles as l ever saw in old Warren.
| The natural grass is about all the
kind produced in Kansas at present,
but it affords good hay and pasturage.
Nebraska is about like Kansas in
most respects, but fruit is not so good.
We crossed the Platte River near
Grand Island. 1t is quite sight to
see. 1t is more than half q mile
wide, and is full of sand bars, there
being more sand in sight than water,
and it looks so strange to see river
destitute of trees. The country in
this part of Nebraska is broken and
billy, but the soil is good. 1t is a
dark loan of great depth, and pro-
duces well on top of the highest hills.
There are a great many little narrow
hollows called draws"
The country has been settled only
about IL years, and at present has
railroad facilities equal to almost any
country. The town of Ravenna is
only four years old and has about BOG
inhabitants and does a good business.
One novelty of the place is the stone
factory. There being no natural
rock or stone here, they manufacture
building stone. .. ....
There is small growth of timber
on the creeks and a great many tim.
Der culture claims on the prairies.
l have heard of the "blizzards" Of
the Northwest all my life, and l had
the pleasnre(9 of seeing one of them
yesterday. The wind howled and
blew almost hurricane and the snow
was blowing so thickly one could not
see anything a few yards away. The
thermometer stood 90 below zere
IIlio ulOIulllB.
There are some coyotes here, anC
they frequently serenade us at nights
in the "sod shanty." The sod house
is quite novelty to those who never
saw one. The walls are made entire
ly of sod, and sometimes the roof i!
made of sod, and when plastered they
make very cosy house. A few PEG
pie live in "dug-outs," or houses dug
into the hillside and covered will
dirt.
The soil is very productive here
, especially for vegetables; melons
, squashes, pumpkins, potatoes, etc
Other crops do fairly well. But Their,
, are some disadvantages here; land i
very high, but plenty to rent on cas-!
t rms.
One curiosity of this country is tn
fact that in digging wells (there being
no springs) they frequently come t
q trunks of trees at a depth of fort.
feet, and water can be found by dig
ging the proper depth anywhere
Skeletons are also found at consider
able depth sometimes, and sea shell
are found in some wells.
!; Colorado is now attracting hom
seekers. 1 think will 60 there mex
spring. Yours Truly,
J. III. SHOCKLEY.